About Those "Homeschooled, Unvaccinated Children are Healthier" Studies.

(do go read the whole thing)

The tl;dr version (referring to the first paper. The second paper is a "minimally publishable unit" from the same analysis). 

...when you look at how this study was designed, it was set up in a biased way that almost guaranteed that it would find “evidence” that vaccines are dangerous. It would have been shocking if such a horribly designed study found anything else. This isn’t science, not even close. It is a junk study that very much deserved to be retracted.

I've been hearing about this "unvaccinated homeschooling students" study since 2010, when Matt Carey told us about Generation Rescue’s Vaccinated/Unvaccinated Study.  At that time, Generation Rescue was fundraising for the study; the researchers were then named as:

• Dr. A. Mawson, Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), and Principal Investigator of the Mississippi Study Center for the National Children’s Study.
• Dr. B. Ray, President of the National Home Education Research Institute and an experienced researcher in home education.
• Dr. S. Buttross, Professor and Chief of the Division of Child Developmental Disorders in the Department of Pediatrics; UMMC;
• Dr. W. May,Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Medicine, UMMC. The combined experience of these investigators ensures the highest standards of quality and scientific rigor.

Fast forward to the spring  of 2017: there are in fact two studies, both published at the pay-to-play Journal of Translational Science -- after some drama, described below. 

1. Mawson AR, Ray BD, Bhuiyan AR, Jacob B, Pilot comparative study on the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated 6- to 12- year old U.S. children J Transl Sci 3: DOI: 10.15761/JTS.100018
2. Mawson AR, Bhuiyan AR, Jacob B,Ray BD,Preterm birth, vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders: a cross-sectional study of 6- to 12-year-old vaccinated and unvaccinated children J Transl Sci 3: DOI: 10.15761/JTS.1000187

Let's look at the research team, compared to the team announced in 2010.

1. Anthony R Mawson, Visiting Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Jackson State University (JSU),  Mississippi.
2. Brian D Ray President, National Home Education Research Institute
3. Azad R Bhuiyan Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Jackson State University
4. Binu Jacob Former graduate student, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Public Health, Jackson State University, 

From Dr. Mawson's CV, it appears his appointment to the University of Mississippi Medical Center terminated in November, 2010. He was not happy with his departure from UMMC --details here. His next appointment, to JSU, began in August 2011.

Publication History

The first paper was accepted for publication at Frontiers in Public Health on November 21 2016, and then retracted, or unpublished, on November 28, 2016. Retraction Watch has the details.  By the way, the ill-informed Celeste McGovern, writing at CMSRI, blames Retraction Watch, for well, the retraction. 

At some point, Mawson shared the project on Research Gate.  Amusingly, one of the commenters was Graham Ewing of the speculative autism paper fame.

The publication history is, well, unusual and unusually complicated.  Here's the Retraction Watch timeline.

1. November 28,2016 Study linking vaccines to autism pulled following heavy criticism (the Frontiers delay in publication)
2. December 9, 2016 Journal reverses acceptance of study linking vaccines to autism (Frontiers rejects the paper)
3. May 8, 2016 Updated: Vaccine-autism study retracted — again, from the  Journal of Translational Science.  

Critical reviews of the paper(s) -- updated silently

1. November 29, 2016 Respectful Insolence Antivaccinationists promote a bogus internet “survey.” Hilarity ensues as it’s retracted. 
2. December 7, 2016, Bryson Masse at Vice Motherboard Jenny McCarthy’s Antivax Group Is Funding Scientific Research On Autism
3. May 6, 2017, Vaccines Work Blog, Why This Vaxxed v. Unvaxxed Study Is Not Valid 
4. May 7 2017 Skeptical Raptor Vaccinated children sicker – another anti-vaccine trope
5. May 8, 2017  Respectful Insolence A horrendously bad “vaxed/unvaxed” study rises from the dead yet again
   
6. May 8, 2017,Dani Stringer, MSN, CPNP, PHMS at Kid Nurse The Truth about Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Homeschoolers
7. May 8, 2017  Steve Neurologica Blog Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Survey
8. May 9,2017 Skeptical Raptor Anti-vaccine paper retracted again – like a zombie, it keeps coming back
9. May 10, 2017 Chad Hayes MD at Chad Hayes MD A Tale of One “Study”: Vaccine science done wrong.
10. May 10, 2017 Respectful Insolence The Mawson “vaxed/unvaxed” study retraction: The antivaccine movement reacts with tears of unfathomable sadness
11. May 10, 2017 Logic of Science Another terrible anti-vaccine study bites the dust
12. May 11, 2017, David Gorski at Science Based Medicine Two (now retracted) studies purporting to show that vaccinated children are sicker than unvaccinated children show nothing of the sort
13. May 14 2017 Skeptical Raptor Sayer Ji pushes retracted anti-vaccine articles – cause he’s got nothing
14. May 18, 2017 Respectful Insolence The check must have finally cleared, or: Mawson’s incompetent “vaxed/unvaxed” study is back online

Approving reviews of the paper(s)

1. December 2, 2017, Dr. Eowin at Fellowship of the Minds New study finds link between child vaccination and autism – CENSORED
2. February 23, 2017 Mark Blaxill at Age of Autism Stunner in First-ever “vax/unvax” Study: Vaxxed Kids Have 4.7 Fold Higher Risk of Autism
3. March 9 2017 James O. Grundvig at Healthcare in America Censored Study of Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated sees Daylight
4. March 8, 2017 Vicki Batts  at Natural News VACCINE STUDY: Peer-Reviewed Study Shows Vaccinated Children Have A 700% Higher Chance Of Neurodevelopmental Disorder
5. May 4 2017 Mark Blaxill at Age of Autism Pilot Comparative Study on the Health of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated 6-12 Year Old US Children
6. May 4 2017 Celeste Mcgovern  at CMSRI: Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated: Guess who is Sicker? (note: CMSRI  partially funded both studies)
7. May 5, 2017 Claire Dworkin at CMSRI: First of Its Kind Survey Shows Vaccinated Children Get Sicker (note: CMSRI  partially funded both studies)
8. May 8, 2017 Jacqueline at Deep Roots at Home Vaccinated Vs. Unvaccinated Homeschooled Kids: Can You Guess Who Is Healthier?
9. May 8, 2017 Jeffery Jaxen at Green Med Info Vaccinated Vs. Unvaccinated Pilot Study: Early Vaccination Sees Exponential Increase in Chronic Disorders
10. May 14, 2017 Claire Bernish at the Free Thought Project First Ever Study of Unvaccinated Vs. Vaccinated Kids, Pulled from Journal, Erased from Internet
11. May 17, 2017 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at the World Mercury Project Unvaccinated Children Have Much Lower Rates of Chronic Illness, Jackson State Study Finds

 

<

Comments

[LouV]

Here are two other critical reviews :
http://www.kidnurse.org/unvaccinated-homeschoolers/
http://www.chadhayesmd.com/a-tale-of-one-study/

[rhett daniels]

Liz - are you still posting this pseudo science?! no matter how hard you try you will always be an uneducated moron. renal clearance in autistic children - of mercury derivatives, is impaired. it's called epigenetics...something you and Epiren have no clue.
btw, your "streissand effect" Obo-one'd me by making me the most successful and feared entrepreneur in my industry... people actually honored contracts because of the "litigious bully". having you pseudo science goons try to hack my name was the best thing to happen to me, and now I hope you will revive it...what do i have to do?! oh, and someday i will sue you..just waiting for you to slip up.